This summer the Penn State Electro-Optics Center once again partnered with Indiana University of Pennsylvania at Northpointe to offer an exciting and educational summer camp. This camp was open to high school students entering grades 10-12 and was attended by students from local area schools: Apollo-Ridge, Butler, Ford City, Freeport, Gateway, Highlands, Kittanning, Leechburg, Lenape Vo-Tech, and West Shamokin. The EOC and IUP hosted twenty-seven students who desired to learn more about opportunities in the emerging high-tech field of electro-optics and IUP's 2+2+2 Pennsylvania Integrated Workforce Leadership Program.

The camp was led by instructors from Lenape Vo-Tech, IUP Northpointe, and the EOC. The students learned about light and electronics from Lenape Vo-Tech instructors James Einsporn and Ronald McCauley. Resident IUP professor Dr. Feng Zhou led the students in activities that increased their knowledge of fiber optics. 2+2+2 Outreach/Career Coordinator Dorothy Zilic conducted a lab activity that focused on optics applications in the field of forensics.

Patrick Huth, the EOC's Education Coordinator, impressed the students with his presentation on the light and color spectra. EOC Director Dr. Karl Harris opened up the EOC for tours and demonstrations of its multiple divisions: IR Camera Lab, Night Vision Lab, Fiber Optics Lab, Reliability and Failure Analysis Lab, Robotics, and Lasers. In addition, the students participated in a discussion on careers in engineering presented by the EOC's Dr. Bill Kiser. Another discussion on the growing field of nanotechnology was presented by Lucas Passmore from PSU's Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU).

Other tours throughout the week consisted of: Optical Systems Technology, Inc. in Freeport where they specialize in night vision products, Sabeus in Northpointe where fiber optic cables are designed and manufactured, and II-VI in Saxonburg which is the world-leader in CO2 laser optics and crystal growth technology.

To conclude the week's activities the students where asked to summarize their favorite topic from the experience in the form of a poster and present them at a closing dinner. The dinner was well-attended by the students and their families, the instructors, and local business leaders.

As interest in this program continues to grow, plans are being discussed to possibly offer this camp more than once per summer, in order to accommodate the growing interest in the camp. We are certain next year's events will be even better.